Card-feeding apparatus

ABSTRACT

A card-feeding apparatus operative to hold individual cards stationary in a standby position intermediate of a card-feeding path after being drawn out from a hopper, and immediately thereafter feeding the individual cards in response to a cardfeed command or the like.

nited States Patent [72] Inventors Yasuo Shiragai [51] lnt.Cl B65h 3/12 Odawara-shi; [50] Field of Search 271/47. 34, Mltsunori Oka, Kokubunjl-shi, both of 35, 57, 26 Japan 21 Appl. No. 827,195 1 References Cited [22] Filed May 23, 1969 UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1 Palmed 7, 1971 3,108,801 |0/1963 Van Dalen 271 34 1 8 flimchhud- 3,159,397 12/1964 Zyber.....'. 271/34 m-l p 3,198.514 8/1965 Barbera etal. 271/34 x Pflomy 3 14, 1968 3,322,261 5/l967 Jensen 271 47 s an [3 U 43734734 Primary Examiner-Joseph Wegbreit AnorneyCraig. Antonelli & Hill [54] CARD-FEEDING APPARATUS 9Claims2 Drawing Figs. ABSTRACT: A cz rd-feedmg apparatus qneratlve to held 1ndlvldual cards statlonary 1n a standby posltion lntermedrate of [521 US. Cl. 271/34, 3 d f di path after being drawn out f a hopper and 271/26 5 immediately thereafter feeding the individual cards in response to a card-feed command or the like.

FEED 22 2/ SIGNAL 9 2O if v 5/ H I I4 l3 I6 4 3 44 gl. 4 I I I 1 1.447

4 J 39 37 3e l PATENTED DEC 7191: 3.625508 INVENTOR vAsuo sHIRAGAI and MrT'SMNoRI 0K4 L 4M,W-

ATTOR NEYS CARD-FEEDING APPARATUS The present invention relates to a card-feeding apparatus, and more particularly the invention relates to an apparatus for feeding cards, particularly cards of relatively thin thickness, such as bills and receipts for electric charges, gas charges and water charges or bank documents such as bank checks.

The apparatus for feeding cards, which have been proposed heretofore, are almost unexceptionally of the type wherein cards are fed from a hopper individually one after another by means of a drum or belt to which the cards are attached under vacuum fore, and some of them have actually been put in use. However, an entirely satisfactory apparatus is not yet available because the problem such as the so-called double feed, miss feed or sneak feed, that is, the phenomenon in which a card is fed in the absence of feed command, which tends to be encountered in feeding particularly thin cards, has not completely been solved as yet.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus by which cards are fed positively at high speeds.

The apparatus according to the present invention is common with the conventional ones in that cards are fed from a hopper, but is different in idea. Namely, the present invention is based on the idea of taking out the cards from a supply hopper once and then feeding the same to a card-reading position immediately in response, for example, to a feed command, and is not based on the idea of feeding the cards from the supply hopper directly to the card-reading position, on which the conventional apparatus are based. According to the present invention, it is possible to solve the problem possessed by the convention apparatus.

The present invention will be fully apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention and H6. 2 is a view taken on the line ll-ll of P16. 1.

Referring to the drawings, a card-feeding apparatus of the invention comprises a base panel which is indicated by numeral 10. A supply hopper 45 is formed on the base panel by sidewalls 24 and 25 and in which a large number of cards 23 are disposed vertically. Pulleys 11 and 13 are rotatably mounted on the base panel 10 by shafts 14 and 16 respectively. The shaft 14 is connected to a clutch 19 either directly or through a gearing or the like. In the embodiment shown, the shaft 14 is directly connected to the clutch 19. Another pulley 12 provided on the base panel l0 is rotatably mounted on a shaft which is carried on an arm 21 pivotable around a pivot 20. The arm 21 is biased by a spring 22, so that the pulley 12 is constantly urged upwardly as viewed in FIG. 1, under the biasing force of said spring 22. A first feed belt 17 is engaged around the pulleys ll, 12 and 13 and is driven in the direction of the arrow 18 by the clutch 19. The first feed belt 17 is held taut by the pulley 12 which is urged outwardly as described above. Further, the first feed belt 17 is perforated around the entire circumference thereof as at 17a. Vacuum chambers 26, 27 and 28 are provided inside of the first feed belt 17 along its length corresponding to the path of cards 23, so as to provide a vacuum force for sucking the cards and retaining the same on the belt 17. These vacuum chambers 26, 27 and 28 are connected to a vacuum pump or vacuum blower not shown. While in this embodiment, the cards 23 are fed by being carried on the first feed belt 17 while being retained thereon under suction acting on the cards through the apertures 17a, the cards may be fed by means of the friction between they and the feed belt 17.

A finger 29 is extending over the card outlet opening 46 of the supply hopper 45. The finger 29 is operated by an electric magnet 30 or a mechanical cam in such a manner that when a card is to be fed, from the supply hopper 45, the finger is retracted backwardly from the cards as shown in the direction of arrow 47 to permit the card 23 to be in contact with the feed belt 17, whereas when the feed is desired to be stopped, the finger is advanced forwardly to the cards as shown in the direction of arrow 48 to keep the cards away from the feed belt.

Adjacent the first feed belt 17 is provided another endless belt 36 which is driven in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of said first feed belt, that is, in the direction of the arrow 35. The belt 36 which is referred to as a reversing belt is engaged around pulleys 31 and 32. The pulley 31 is mounted on a shaft 33 which is connected to a driving source not shown, while the pulley 32 is mounted on a shaft 34 which is rotatablyjournaled in the base panel 10.

A second feed belt 29 is provided in succession with the first feed belt 17 and is continuously rotated by a pulley 37 in the direction of the arrow 40. The pulley 37 is mounted on a shaft 38 which is connected to a driving source.

Along the card-feeding path are provided position-detecting means 41, 42, 43 and 44, each consisting, for example, of a photosensor which is adapted to sense the card by means of a light and emit a control signal representative of the presence or absence of the card and which is composed of a light-electricity conversion element, such as photodiode, phototransistor or solar cell, and a lamp constituting a light source. A first photosensor 41 is provided adjacent the card outlet opening 46 of the supply hopper 45 at a position which is distant from the card outlet opening 46 by a length substantially equal to the length of the card. A second photosensor 43 is located near the pulley 11 at a position along the length of the first feed belt 17 corresponding to the card-feeding path. A third photosensor 44 is located along a length of the second feed belt 39 corresponding to the card-feeding path. The first photosensor 41 gives a control signal generated thereby to the magnet 30 through line 49. As may be seen in F IG. 1, the interval between the adjacent ones of the respective photosensors is not exactly the same as the length of the cards 23. However, these photosensors are respectively spaced from each other in a specific relation with respect to the length of the cards 23, which relation will become apparent from the description which follows:

Now, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained hereunder: the modes of feeding cards are classified into a continuous feed and on-demand feed, of which the continuous feed will be explained at first.

ln feeding the cards 23 from the hopper 45, the first feed belt 17, the reversing belt 36 and the second feed belt 39 are driven in the respective directions and the first photosensor 41 gives a control signal representative of no card being present to the magnet 30, so that the finger 29 is operated to permit the card 23 to contact with the first feed belt 17. The card 23 is sucked onto the first feed belt 17 and carried thereby. If, in this case, two cards are carried away simultaneously from the hopper 45 by the feed belt, the outer one of these cards on the feed belt is carried back into the hopper by the reversing belt 36 and only that one which is to be fed is carried on the feed belt 17. At the moment when the leading edge of the card has reached the first photosensor 41 or upon lapse of a time corresponding to the length of the card, after said moment, the photosensor 41 gives a signal representative of a card being present to the magnet 30, so that the magnet is actuated to return the finger 29 to its position and thereby to stop the feed of the next adjacent card. Then, at the moment when the trailing edge of the card has passed the first photosensor 41, said photosensor again gives a signal to the magnet 30 to provide for feeding of the next card. Now, if the preceding card is being carried on the second feed belt 39 when the leading edge of the successive card has reached the second photosensor 43, a control signal which is generated by the second photosensor 43 and which is representative of a card being present is supplied to the clutch 19 through line 50, which said preceding card is sensed by the third photosensor 44 and said photosensor 44 gives a signal to the clutch 19 through a line 51 to bring the same in an inoperative position, whereby the first feed belt 17 stops rotating. Therefore, the successive card is held stationary with its leading edge located between the photosensors 43 and 44. Then, the trailing edge of the preceding card passes the third photosensor 44, whereupon the clutch 19 is actuated again and the successive card which has been held stationary at the position of the second photosensor 43 moves again by being carried on the first feed belt 17. On the other hand, if the preceding card had already cleared the third photosensor 44 when the successive card reached the position of the second photosenmr 43, said successive card is continuously carried by the first feed belt 17 without once being held stationary. Namely, the successive card is fed only after a signal from the third photosensor 44 signifying that the preceding card was already cleared at the position of the third photosensor 44, has been received. The second feed belt 39 for receiving cards from the intermittently driven first feed belt 17 is operated continuously, thereby feeding the cards to the reading position.

As described above, according to the present invention the cards are not directly fed into the reading position one after another successively, but the successive card is drawn out from the hopper once successively after the preceding card and then advanced further to be fed into the reading position depending upon the condition of the preceding card, so that the cards can be fed into the reading position positively in a substantially equal interval.

Now, in case of the on-demand feed the present apparatus operates in the following manner: Namely, the card is drawn out from the hopper in the same manner as in the continuous feed operation. When the card has reached the position of the second photosensor 43, the clutch 19 is placed in an inoperative position in response to a signal from said second photosensor and the card is retained thereat until a card feed signal is given exteriorly. Namely, it may be considered that a stop command signal is given when a card feed signal is not given. When the card feed signal is given to the clutch 19, the card which has been standing by is carried by the first and second feed belts and led into the reading position. Namely, according to the invention, since the card has already been drawn out from the hopper and standing by at the position of the second photosensor when a card feed signal is given to the apparatus, the possibility of miss feed can be eliminated which tends to occur in the case wherein a card is drawn out from the hopper and fed to the reading position only after the card feed signal is given, and positive feed of the cards can be ensured.

As described above, in case of the on-demand feed operation the card which has previously been drawn out from the hopper and retained in the standby position is fed into the reading position in response to the card feed signal, whereas in case of the continuous feed operation the card thus retained in the standby position is fed into the reading position in response to the signal from the third photosensor 44. Therefore, by considering the signal (indicative of the absence of a card) from the photosensor 44 in the continuous feed operation as a card feed signal in the on-demand feed operation, the apparatus in both operations can be understood as a common card-feeding apparatus.

The first and fourth photosensors 41 and 42 control the operation of the finger 29, while the second and third photosensors 43 and 44 control the operation of the clutch 19. The fourth photosensor 42 is provided for the purpose of enhancing the reliability of the apparatus in operation. Namely, if, for example, the clutch 19 is placed in the inoperative position with the trailing edge of the preceding card and the leading edge of the successive card are located intennediate between the photosensors 41 and 42, the finger 29 is held in a position to hold the cards away from the first feed belt even when the clutch 19 is actuated, so that said successive card is restrained by the finger and, in some cases, it is impossible to feed the cards regularly. The fourth photosensor 42 is provided to avoid such undesirable phenomenon, and is designed to operate in such a manner that it operates the finger at the moment when the trailing edge of the preceding card has cleared it, providing for feeding of the successive card and returns said finger to its original position at the moment when the leading edge of the successive card has reached the position of said photosensor 42.

lt may be understood from the foregoing, according to the present invention it is possible to eliminate the possibility of double feed, miss feed or sneak feed and to operate the apparatus at high speeds owing to the fact that the successive card is always standing by upon being drawn out from the hopper when the preceding card is being fed into the reading position.

What is claimed is:

l. A card-feeding apparatus comprising a card supply hopper, first and second card position detecting means provided along a first path of cards for detecting whether cards are present thereat or not, means for releasing a successive card from said supply hopper in response to a signal representative of absence of a card at said first card position detecting means given thereto from said first detecting means; first cardconveying means for conveying a card released from said supply hopper along the first card path and being capable of immovably holding the card at the position of said second card position detecting means in response to a signal representative of the presence of a card at said second card position detecting means given to the first card-conveying means from said second detecting means, and second card-conveying means successive to said first card-conveying means for receiving the card from the first card-conveying means and further conveying the same thereon.

2. A cardfeeding apparatus comprising a card supply hopper, first and second card position detecting means provided along a first path of cards for detecting whether cards are present thereat or not, means for releasing a successive card from said supply hopper in response to a signal representative of absence of a card at said first card position detecting means given thereto from said first card position detecting means, first card-conveying means for conveying a card released from said supply hopper along the first card path and being capable of immovably holding the card at the position of said second card position detecting means in response to a signal representative of the presence of a card at said second card position detecting means given thereto from said second card position detecting means, said first card-conveying means being again operated by a feed signal given thereto for further conveying said card, and second card-conveying means successive to said first card-conveying means for receiving the card from the first card-conveying means and further conveying the same thereon.

3? A card-feeding apparatus as defined in claim 1, in which third card position detecting means is provided along a second path of cards carried by said second card-conveying means, said third detecting means holding said first card-conveying means inoperative so long as a card is passing the third detecting means so that the successive card is immovably held at the position of said second card position detecting means.

4. A card-feeding apparatus as defined in claim 1, in which fourth card position detecting means is provided intermediate of said first and second card position detecting means along the first card path, said fourth card position detecting means controlling said releasing means when it detects that the trailing edge of a preceding card has passed the position of said fourth card position detecting means to release the successive card from said supply hopper and when said fourth detecting means detects that the leading edge of the preceding card is still passing said fourth card position detecting means to stop release of the successive card.

5. A card-feeding apparatus comprising:

a card supply hopper retaining cards therein;

a first card conveyor for operatively conveying the cards thereon released from the card hopper along a first path one after another;

a second card conveyor disposed in succession to said first {conveyor for receiving the cards therefrom and further conveying the same thereon along a second path;

a first detector disposed at a position along the first path for detecting presence and absence of cards thereat; and

means for generating a stop command signal, said first card conveyor being rendered inoperative when presence of cards is detected under generation of the stop command signal, whereby the first card conveyor holds in the first path a card in a standby state at the position where the first detector is located so long as the stop command signal continues.

6. A card-feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said stop command signal generating means normally is adapted to generate both the stop command signal and a cardfeed command signal which is reversal of the stop command signal, whereby the apparatus is operated in an on-demand operation.

7. A card-feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said stop command signal generating means comprises a second detector disposed at a position along the second path for detecting presence and absence of cards thereat, said stop command signal representing the detection of the presence of the card by the second detector, whereby the apparatus is operated in a continuous feed operation.

8. A card-feeding apparatus comprising:

a card supply hopper for retaining cards therein;

first card-conveying means for conveying thereon the cards released from said hopper along a first card path one after another;

first card position detecting means provided at a position along the first card path with a distance from said hopper for detecting a card arriving thereat;

second card position detecting means provided at a position successive to said first card position detecting means along the first card path;

card-feed control means for releasing a card from said card supply hopper to said first card-conveying means in response to detection by said first card position detecting means of no card arrival thereat; and

second card-conveying means provided in succession to said first card-conveying means for receiving a card therefrom and further conveying the same thereon; said first card-conveying means being rendered inoperative when said second card position detecting means detects arrival of card thereat under generation of a stop command signal.

9. A card-feeding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the distance between the first card position detecting means and said hopper is substantially equal to the length of a card to be conveyed.

l t W 10* t 

1. A card-feeding apparatus comprising a card supply hopper, first and second card position detecting means provided along a first path of cards for detecting whether cards are present thereat or not, means for releasing a successive card from said supply hopper in response to a signal representative of absence of a card at said first card position detecting means given thereto from said first detecting means; first card-conveying means for conveying a card released from said supply hopper along the first card path and being capable of immovably holding the card at the position of said second card position detecting means in response to a signal representative of the presence of a card at said second card position detecting means given to the first card-conveying means from said second detecting means, and second card-conveying means successive to said first card-conveying means for receiving the card from the first card-conveying means and further conveying the same thereon.
 2. A card-feeding apparatus comprising a card supply hopper, first and second card position detecting means provided along a first path of cards for detecting whether cards are present thereat or not, means for releasing a successive card from said supply hopper in response to a signal representative of absence of a card at said first card position detecting means given thereto from said first card position detecting means, first card-conveying means for conveying a card released from said supply hopper along the first card path and being capable of immovably holding the card at the position of said second card position detecting means in response to a signal representative of the presence of a card at said second card position detecting means given thereto from said second card position detecting means, said first card-conveying means being again operated by a feed signal given thereto for further conveying said card, and second card-conveying means successive to said first card-conveying means for receiving the card from the first card-conveying means and further conveying the same thereon.
 3. A card-feeding apparatus as defined in claim 1, in which third card position detecting means is provided along a second path of cards carried by said second card-conveying means, said third detecting means holding said first card-conveying means inoperative so long as a card is passing the third detecting means so that the successive card is immovably held at the position of said second card position detecting means.
 4. A card-feeding apparatus as defined in claim 1, in which fourth card position detecting means is provided intermediate of said first and second card position detecting means along the first card path, said fourth card position detecting means controlling said releasing means when it detects that the trailing edge of a preceding card has passed the position of said fourth card position detecting means to release the successive card from said supply hopper and when said fourth detecting means detects that the leading edge of the preceding card is still passing said fourth card position detecting means to stop release of the successive card.
 5. A card-feeding apparatus comprising: a card supply hopper retaining cards therein; a first card conveyor for operatively conveying the cards thereon released from the card hopper along a first path one after another; a second card conveyor disposed in succession to said first conveyor for receiving the cards therefrom and further conveying the same thereon along a second path; a first detector disposed at a position along the first path for detecting presence and absence of cards thereat; and means for generating a stop command signal, said first card conveyor being rendered inoperative when presence of cards is detected under generation of the stop command signal, whereby the first card conveyor holds in the first path a card in a standby state at the position where the first detector is located so long as the stop command signal continues.
 6. A card-feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said stop command signal generating means normally is adapted to generate both the stop command signal and a card-feed command signal which is reversal of the stop command signal, whereby the apparatus is operated in an on-demand operation.
 7. A card-feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said stop command signal generating means comprises a second detector disposed at a position along the second path for detecting presence and absence of cards thereat, said stop command signal representing the detection of the presence of the card by the second detector, whereby the apparatus is operated in a continuous feed operation.
 8. A card-feeding apparatus comprising: a card supply hopper for retaining cards therein; first card-conveying means for conveying thereon the cards released from said hopper along a first card path one after another; first card position detecting means provided at a position along the first card path with a distance from said hopper for detecting a card arriving thereat; second card position detecting means provided at a position successive to said first card position detecting means along the first card path; card-feed control means for releasing a card from said card supply hopper to said first card-conveying means in response to detection by said first card position detecting means of no card arrival thereat; and second card-conveying means provided in succession to said first card-conveying means for receiving a card therefrom and further conveying the same thereon; said first card-conveying means being rendered inoperative when said second card position detecting means detects arrival of card thereat under generation of a stop command signal.
 9. A card-feeding apparatus accorDing to claim 8, wherein the distance between the first card position detecting means and said hopper is substantially equal to the length of a card to be conveyed. 